Category Archives: Fail!

Middle East – Refugees top 50 million for first time since WWII, UN says – France 24

By country, the biggest populations of refugees were Afghans, Syrians and Somalis, the report said. Half of those displaced are children.

The countries currently hosting the largest number of refugees were Pakistan, Iran and Lebanon – whose very stability is threatened by the raging Syrian war next door.

via Middle East – Refugees top 50 million for first time since WWII, UN says – France 24.

Pesticide Stricken Honeybee Hives On a Sustainable Family Farm | The Women’s International Perspective

Dead bees

You see, I only became a beekeeper this summer. I decided to do so in response to the Wilsonville, Oregon bumblebee die-off one year ago today: June 19, 2013. On that day, over 50,000 bumblebees rained on the parking lot outside a Target store. The culprit: neonicotinoids, a class of pesticide.

via Pesticide Stricken Honeybee Hives On a Sustainable Family Farm | The Women’s International Perspective.

France shocked by violence against Roma | Europe | DW.DE | 20.06.2014

The reactions in social networks and online news portals were often racist and included expressions of support for Darius’ torturers. “If the state can’t provide security, it’s only logical that people will practice vigilante justice,” one French Twitter user wrote. What dangers that view brings with it has become clear in the past few days.

via France shocked by violence against Roma | Europe | DW.DE | 20.06.2014.

Outrage over Japan’s review of sex slave apology | Asia | DW.DE | 19.06.2014

Real men would just admit that the guys in charge during war were jerks and stand by the apology and not start the shaming of victims again. Either that or accept

The argument of the nationalists is that these women were merely common prostitutes who were assisted in plying their trade by civilian brokers. Under pressure from his conservative supporters, the Abe administration announced in February that it was setting up a team to “re-examine and understand the background” of the Kono statement, including attempting to verify the testimony provided by former comfort women.

via Outrage over Japan’s review of sex slave apology | Asia | DW.DE | 19.06.2014.

University punishes students guilty of sexual assault with expulsion…after graduation

Stories of ridiculously lenient punishments for campus sexual assault have become a dime a dozen, but you gotta hand it to James Madison University for this one.

James Madison University punished three fraternity members for sexually assaulting a female student and sharing their video of the attack by banning them from campus — after they graduate.

via University punishes students guilty of sexual assault with expulsion…after graduation.

“Plastic-eating” microbes help reduce marine debris: researchers – Channel NewsAsia

Coming soon: The Dixie Cup that Ate Cleveland!

Microscopic creatures could be helping reduce marine garbage on the ocean surface, not only by “eating” plastics but by causing tiny pieces to sink to the seafloor, Australian researchers said on Thursday.

The plastic-dwellers appear to be biodegrading the millions of tonnes of debris floating on waters worldwide, according to oceanographers at the University of Western Australia.

via “Plastic-eating” microbes help reduce marine debris: researchers – Channel NewsAsia.

Middle East “Expert” – US military force against ISIS in Iraq ‘is no longer avoidable’ – France 24

{Not volunteering to serve or be on any front line}

Paradoxically, the current conflict in Iraq and the changing geopolitical dynamics could accelerate the process of ending the civil war in Syria. To that end, the US must seize upon this opening and spearhead the delivery of weapons to the rebels to stop Assad from continuing his indiscriminate bombing of rebel hideouts while killing thousands of civilians in the process.

For this reason, once the US commits to preventing ISIS from achieving its goal, it cannot do so incrementally. All countries in the region have a common interest to bring an end to ISIS’ unseemly ambition. They must now set aside their differences and rally under American leadership to achieve their common objective.

Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU.

via Middle East – US military force against ISIS in Iraq ‘is no longer avoidable’ – France 24.

Water Cut-off in Detroit Violates Human Rights, Say Activists | Inter Press Service

“This is unprecedented,” said Maude Barlow, founder of the Blue Planet Project, a group that advocates water as a human right.

“I visited the city and worked with the Detroit People’s Water Board several weeks ago and came away terribly upset,” she told IPS.

“Water bills are regressive, so low-income households pay a disproportionate amount of their income for water service.” — Mary Grant, researcher at Food & Water Watch

She pointed out that hundreds of thousands of people, mostly African Americans, are having their water ruthlessly turned off.

Families with children, the elderly and the sick, cannot bathe, flush their toilets or cook in their own homes, she added.

“This is the worst violation of the human right to water I have ever seen outside of the worst slums in the poorest countries in failed states of the global South,” said Barlow, a one-time senior advisor on water to a former President of the U.N. General Assembly.

Last March, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) announced plans to shut off water service for 1,500 to 3,000 customers every week if their water bills were not paid. And on Tuesday, the City Council approved an 8.7-percent water rate increase.

According to a DWSD document, more than 80,000 residential households – in a city of 680,000 people – are in arrears, with thousands of families without water, and thousands more expected to lose access at any moment.

via Water Cut-off in U.S. City Violates Human Rights, Say Activists | Inter Press Service.

Sierra Leone News: Health Minister Miatta Kargbo Mocks Nurse who died of Ebola: Sierra Leone News

Sierra Leone’s Minister of Health and Sanitation Miss Miatta Kargbo has appeared in Parliament yesterday June 17th 2014 to speak on the Ebola menace now ravaging Kailahun district and posing a threat to Sierra Leone. Whilst she appeared with many facts to defend her ministry, the minister went on to shock many by describing two of her deceased staff with promiscuous references of illicit, extra-marital sexual affairs. As citizens listened in horror, she openly identified the male staff by name and went on to say the female staff died because she was in a sexual relationship with the male staff. However, her claims were to be swiftly debunked by the elected parliamentarian for Daru.

via Sierra Leone News: Health Minister Miatta Kargbo Mocks Nurse who died of Ebola: Sierra Leone News.

Oil/gas/fracking b4 land/people/animals – Text of H.R. 4866: To reverse the Department of the Interior’s listing of the lesser prairie chicken as

Totally weird – area covered is one that gas and oil developers hope to frack – guess they must think they will be done ruining the land and water by 2020?

Notwithstanding any prior action by the Secretary of the Interior, the lesser prairie chicken shall not be treated as a threatened species or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) before January 31, 2020.

via Text of H.R. 4866: To reverse the Department of the Interior’s listing of the lesser prairie chicken as … (Introduced version) – GovTrack.us.